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Ryanair announced today its 19th European base in Düsseldorf Weeze. From June 2007, Ryanair will invest €140m in two new aircraft and 10 routes. Ryanair will deliver 1 million passengers in its first full year, rising to 2 million p.a. from 2008. Europe’s largest low fares airline also today annoujnced 16 new routes across Europe.

These 2 million passengers will create 2,000 local jobs and enable passengers to fly for a fraction of the high fares charged at Düsseldorf International airport.

source: finfacts.com

Ryanair posted a 30 percent jump in third-quarter net profit on Monday, confounding analyst expectations for a fall, and ramped up its full-year profit goal while predicting big fuel-cost savings for the following year.

Europe’s biggest low-cost carrier said profit after tax rose to 47.7 million euros (31.4 million pounds) in the three months to end December from 36.8 million in the same period of 2005, against analyst expectations that they would fall by over 60 percent.

source: Reuters

Low-cost airline Ryanair has launched a campaign offering 1 mln free flights to passengers who write to UK chancellor Gordon Brown to voice their disapproval about the forthcoming 10 stg air passenger duty bill.

The government, which raised the charge from 5 stg, said the increase is a response to growing fears the aviation industry is a significant contributor to global warming.

source: Forbes

Ryanair today announced that it had taken a record 1,000,000 bookings between the 5^th and the 11^th of January. This is the first time Ryanair has sold more than 1m seats in a week and makes Ryanair the first European low fares airline to do so.

source: finfacts

The low-fares airline Ryanair has lost its battle to win control of an Internet domain name from a disgruntled former customer, according to a ruling issued by a United Nations panel Wednesday.

Michael Coulston of London, England, set up a Web site in July under the domain name http://www.ryanaircampaign.org which is critical of Ryanair’s business practices.

The Irish carrier complained to the World Intellectual Property Organization that the domain name infringed on its trademarks and should therefore be transferred into Ryanair’s possession.

source: International Herald Tribune

No frills airline Ryanair yesterday withdrew its ambitious bid to take over Ireland’s national carrier Aer Lingus after the European Commission announced an “‘in-depth investigation'” into its plans.

Following the announcement Ryanair said the buyout automatically lapsed under takeover rules – but the company still intends to make a further offer for Aer Lingus if the EC review clears the way.

Dublin-based Ryanair launched its £1 billion bid in October – a takeover offer which Aer Lingus asked shareholders to reject.

source: The Birminghan Post

Budget airline Ryanair has extended for a second time the deadline for Aer Lingus shareholders to accept its takeover offer after investors with less than 1 percent of the carrier accepted its bid.

The bid, which values Aer Lingus at 1.48 billion euros (1.0 billion pounds), is widely expected to fail given intense opposition from major shareholders, including the Irish government with 25 percent and current and former Aer Lingus staff with 12.6 percent.

source: Reuters

Irish airlines are the most complained about in Europe, and the most common problems are lost and damaged luggage, delays and cancellations, and people getting bumped off flights.

Irish-based airlines Ryanair and Aer Lingus topped the complaint ranks by generating 17% of all complaints and disputes from passengers reported to European Consumer Centres (ECC) last year.

The European Commission yesterday gave the green light to a scheme launched by the government last July subsidising a number of new air routes to and from Malta.

Ryanair, which started operating scheduled flights from Luton and Pisa at the end of last month, was the first airline to benefit from the scheme.

The Commission said it has decided to allow Malta to grant start-up aid for new air routes from Malta International Airport.

source: Times of Malta

Advertising watchdog on Wednesday criticised Irish airline Ryanair for promoting millions of “zero fare” flights that actually cost passengers up to 21.70 pounds.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said the low-cost airline should have made clear that people would have to pay taxes and other charges on all tickets.

It upheld a complaint from Ryanair’s rival Monarch Airlines and ordered the Dublin-based company to drop the TV commercials.

source: Reuters